Steel-ball-roughing machine



Mar. 27, 1923.

- A. A. ADAMS.

STEEL BALL ROUGHIN G MACHINE- 2 SHEETSSHEET l.

FILED MAY 29, I920.

arenas ADOLPH A. ADAMS, OF, 'PHILALDELPHTA, PENTTSYLVANIA.

STEEL-BALL-BOUG-HING MACHINE.

Application filed May 25, 1920. Serial No. 385,273.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that T, ADoLrrr A. Anni/rs, a citizen of the United States, residing at Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful 1m provements in Steel-Ball-Roughing Machines, of which the following is a specification.

One object of my present invention is to facilitate and quicken the production of rough steel balls such for example as rough steel balls which are afterwards finished and used as ball bearings.

Prior to my present invention rough steel balls were commercially made in such manner that they were extremely costly and also required extensive after-treatment prior to being finally shaped for use.

Another object of my invention is to reduce the cost of production and to turn out the balls in such condition that they will not require such extensive after-treatment as was heretofore necessary.

A still further object is to make my im-- proved machine of a strong and durable construction and of a practical nature.

These objects, and other advantageous ends which will be described hereinafter, ll attain in the following manner, reference being he d to the accompanying drawings in which- Figure 1 is a front elevation of a machine constructed in accordance with my present invention,

Figure 2 is a sideelevation of Figure 1,

Figure is an enlarged section taken on the line 3 3 of Figure 1,

Figure 4: is a fragmentary section drawn on a larger scale than Figure 3 and showing more clearly the arrangement of certain of the parts,

Figure elevation of certain of the features in Figures 1 to 4; inclusive, and

Figure 6 is a view of substantially similar character to that shown inl igure 5 and illustrating a slight modification which I may use in some instances.

Referring to the crawings, 7 represents a frame or supporting structure which is preferably made of heavy metal and includes a base 8 having a die block 9 mounted thereon; said die block at its forward part including a recess 10. The surface 11 which forms said recess includes a plurality of grooves 12 which are arranged side by side and are substantially semi-circular in cross section is an enlarged fragmentary front shown These grooves from their top open ends 13 extend downwardly and rearwardly in the form of a curve or in other words, a curve formed by a moving center, as clearly shown in Figure 3. Bythus forming the grooves 12 in close relation as shown in Figures 1 and 5, projecting edges 1 1 are provided which serve as indenting members as will hereinafter be described.

A roller or drum 15 is mounted on an axle 16; said axle being journaled in bearings 11' of the frame members 7 which project upwardly from the base 8. The outer surface of the roller is preferably made concentric to the axis of rotation. and is provided with a plurality of grooves 18 which are arranged respectively in front of the grooves 12 of the die block 9. The grooves 18 are substantially semi-circular in cross section as shown in Figures 1 and 5 The roller 15 is so placed that the edges 19 formed by the division between the grooves 18 are directly adjacent the edges 14 of the die block near the lower parts of said grooves 12 as clearly shown in Figures 3 and 4 and since the curves from top to bottom of the grooves 12 are not concentric but are eccentric with the axis of rotation of the shaft 16 and with the greatest eccentricity at the top, there will he a comparatively large space 20 present between the uppermost portions of the edges Chi and the uppermost portions of the edges 19. and this space gradually diminishes in width at successively lower levels or in other words the space 20 tapers downwardly until as indicated at the point m the edges 14 of the grooves 12 and the edges 19 of the grooves 18 of the r ller are practically together. The die block 9 includes portion 21 immediately forward of the point 9? and below the roller 15, and this portion 21 of the, die block has continued parts of the grooves 12 as indicated at 22. These continued parts 22 of the grooves 12 are made substantially concentric to the axis of rotation of the roller 15 so that the edges 14 of the grooves 12 which produce the portions 22 are substantially concentric and nearly engage the edges 19 of the grooves 18 of the roller 15. I have illustrated the portion 21 of the die block 9 as made in a separate section from the remaining or body portion of said die block and have secured the portion 21 by means of bolts 23.

In operation the roller 15 can be rotated in the direction of the arrows shown in Figures 2 and 3 by any suitable means applied to the axle 16 and bars 24 of steel, or other material out of which the rough balls are to be made, are fed, in positions substantially parallel with the axis of the roller, into the upper portion of the spacev 20; the bars 24ebeing preferably heated prior to being fed to the machine. The rotation of the roller willv caus the bars 24 to he moved downwardly in the space 20 and the edges 1.4 and 19 of the die block and roller will indent the bars 24: and during a continuation of the retation of the roller 15 the metal of the bars will be pressed into the grooves of the die block and cylinder or cylinders and thereby take the shape of said grooves until they pass or drop over the forward edge of the portion 21 of the die block and when thus dropped from the machine the bar will be shaped to produce or include a number of balls which are practically perfect and which need comparatively little finishing. The set ting of the grooves in. the portion 21 of the die block with respect to the grooves of the roller can, if desired, be so close as to cause the shearing or separation of the balls. Also by having the groove in the portion 21 of the die block concentric with the grooves of the roller 15, a very thorough finishing action is brought upon the balls after having been initially shaped gradually in passing from the upper end of the passage 20 to the point on In some instances I prefer to employ in addition to the above mentioned structure, an arrangement of crevices or sub-grooves 12 and 18 which project inwardly from the grooves 12 and 18, such for example as shown in Figure 6. These crevices or subgrooves provide a space into which any excess metal, in addition to that required to fill the cross section of the grooves 12 and 18, can enter during the rolling and shaping action. As the result of this action, however, the rough balls produced will have ribs formed on their outer surfaces taking the form of flanges projecting from their vertical diameters and these flanges would have to be ground off after the balls are taken from the machine.

While I have described my invention as taking a particular form, it will be understood that the various parts of my invention may? be changed without departing from the spirit thereof, and hence I do not limit myself to the precise construction set forth, but consider that I am at liberty to make such changes and alterations as fairly come within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is: e

1. A grooved die block and a grooved roller, the grooves of the block and roller being opposed to each other, the space be tween the grooves of the roller and the die block varying in width in the direction of the length of said grooves, said die block and roller having sub-grooves extending inwardly from said first grooves whereby spaces are provided into which excess metal in addition to that required to fill said first grooves may be forced; substantially as described.

2.111 a steel ball roughing machine, a die block having a recess in its front surface, the surface forming said recess having grooves arranged side by side and extending (jlownwz-irdly in the form of a curve; a cylindrical roller having its outer surface provided with grooves arranged side by side and opposed to the grooves of said die block, the grooves of the die block and roller producing intermediate uniformly projecting sharp edgesalso directly oppos ing each other, the surface of the recess be ing eccentric to the axis of the roller with the greatest eccentricity at one end and grad ually decreasing toward the other end whereby a space is provided between the grooves and edges of the die block and roller decreasing in width toward said end, said die block including a separable portion in which the grooves and edges throughout their lengths are arranged concentric to the grooves and edges of the roller and to the axis of the latter; and a securing means passed horizontally through said portion and into the die block beyond the surface of the latter against which said portion is secured; substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ADOLPH A. ADAMS. lVitnesses ELIZABETH Gnnnn, CHAS. E. Porrs. 

